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Title:
The Warrior’s Apprentice
Series: Vorkosigan
Saga #2
Author: Lois Bujold
Rating:
4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages:
284
Words: 101K
Publish: 1986
Now
this was more like it!!!! After the start I had with Shards
of Honor, I wasn’t sure if
this series was actually going to be for me or not. Romance in my SF
is not a thing I want, or countenance. Especially when it is lady
romance with “oh, his eyes, oh his smile” kind of thing. But
Admiral General Emperor Bookstooge is glad to report that there was
none of THAT in this book. This was a proper 80’s SF adventure
story.
As
I was reading this, I kept checking things on my mental checklist
that I enjoy.
Coming of age story, Check!
Underdog,
Check!
Smart character, Check!
Adventure
and Action, Check!
Unrequited Love Interest, Check! (of the teen
boy variety, which I can handle)
Winning
all the marbles, Check!
Badguy
in the background only slowly coming to the fore, Check!
Beating
the metaphorical snot out of said badguy, Check!
Yes,
this book had it all. As I kept reading, I kept finding more and more
things that I liked and it made this read better and better. By the
end, I was ready to take over a spaceship myself and go fight some
space pirates or something ;-)
The
only reason this isn’t getting a 5star rating (apart from the fact
that I’m as stingy as Scrooge about 5stars) is that I am not sure
if my reaction to this book was bounced from my disappointed of the
first book. That’ll have to wait to be determined until the
inevitable re-read in a decade or two. But for a first read, a 4 ½
star rating is just about as high as a book can get from me. I am
pleased as punch about this and I REALLY hope the series continues in
this vein and not the first book.
Because
this series is popular, it has been re-released several times and
there are a multitude of covers. Most are Baen covers (Baen is the
publishing house) and Baen knows who their audience is and as such
does their covers accordingly. If it helps, all of Larry Correia’s
Monster Hunter International
book covers are by Baen :-D I chose this one just because it looked
cool. I don’t think it actually has anything to do with the story,
but that doesn’t matter to me at the moment. A good story, a good
cover and I’m happy.
★★★★✬
From
Wikipedia
When Miles
Vorkosigan is disqualified from joining the Barrayaran Imperial
Service Academy because he breaks both his fragile legs during the
physical entrance test, he sets about trying to prove himself worthy
by other means, especially since he blames himself for his aged
paternal grandfather's death shortly afterward. To lift Miles'
spirits, his mother sends him to Beta Colony to visit his maternal
grandmother. Miles has to take his lifelong bodyguard, Bothari, so he
seizes the opportunity to have his mother invite Bothari's daughter,
Elena, along to broaden her horizons.
At
Beta Colony, Miles comes across a tense standoff: "jump pilot"
Arde Mayhew refuses to let anyone seize his obsolete starship, the
only one he can fly, barricading himself inside and threatening to
blow it up rather than let it be scrapped. Miles defuses the
situation by buying the freighter from the creditor, using ancestral
family lands back on Barrayar as collateral (neglecting to inform the
seller that the region is radioactive, a result of the former
Cetagandan occupation). He also acquires a crewman, Barrayaran
deserter Baz Jesek. To cover the credit note he used to buy the
freighter, Miles masquerades as a mercenary leader (in transit) and
takes a risky, but very well-paying job offered by Major Carle Daum:
transporting a cargo into a war on Tau Verde IV to the losing side,
Felice. Bothari and Elena go along.
The
star system, however, is under a blockade maintained by a mercenary
fleet commanded by Admiral Oser. When the freighter is stopped for
inspection, the man in charge decides to take Elena, so Miles has no
choice but to overpower him and his lax, small crew. Miles maintains
the pretence of being an influential member of a shadowy mercenary
outfit, which he calls the Dendarii, and convinces his prisoners to
become probationary members, seeing as he has too few people to guard
them safely. As time goes on, Miles uses his military genius to first
capture and recruit more and more of Oser's personnel and ships, then
subtly sabotage Oser's relationship with his employers. Outmaneuvered
over and over again, Oser finally gives up and offers to join the
Dendarii, under the command of "Admiral Miles Naismith".
However,
that is not the end of Miles' troubles. First, Elena and Baz fall in
love, and Baz asks for his permission, as Baz's liege lord, to marry
her. Miles, after a confrontation with Elena, reluctantly gives it.
Then Miles' feckless cousin Ivan Vorpatril shows up. From what Ivan
can tell him, Miles deduces that his father is or will be charged
with treason, arising from Miles' acquisition of a fleet; Counts and
counts' heirs are permitted only a small personal guard. Miles speeds
back to Barrayar just in time to extricate his father. To save
himself from the same charge, Miles suggests to Emperor of Barrayar
(and foster brother) Gregor Vorbarra that he secretly accept the
Dendarii as his own, to be employed whenever Barrayaran forces cannot
be openly utilized.
